


Whumptober 2020

by seainstorm, ssssssssssssssssssspiderboi



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone Needs A Hug, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hospitalization, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Peter Parker Gets a Hug, Peter Parker Lacks Self-Preservation Instincts, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Whump, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Pepper Potts, Protective Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Rating May Change, Serious Injuries, Tags May Change, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Whump, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:01:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26734033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seainstorm/pseuds/seainstorm, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssssssssssssssssssspiderboi/pseuds/ssssssssssssssssssspiderboi
Summary: Irondad and Spiderson prompt fills for Whumptober 2020, co-written by ssssssssssssssssssspiderboi and seainstorm.All chapters stand alone unless otherwise specified.Seainstorm is writing odd days, ssssssssssssssssssspiderboi is writing even days.Hope you enjoy this month filled with pain and hurt, but also lots of fluff and comfort, because that's just what we do!1. Peter wakes up, confused and restrained. Has he been kidnapped? That remains to be seen.
Relationships: Happy Hogan & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Pepper Potts, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Kudos: 13
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Whumptober 2020

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for joining us for another year of Whumptober! We're so excited to be doing this again, and we hope you'll enjoy what we write!  
> Please let us know what you think!

Pain.

Pain is the first thing that Peter registers, a dull pain in the back of his head that spreads quickly and morphs into a sharp ache as he struggles to open his eyes. Confusion is clouding his senses, so it takes a long time for him to become fully aware of his surroundings and even longer for his memory to filter in. 

The feeling of cuffs around his wrists, pinning his arms close to his sides, makes him think he’s been kidnapped once again, and adrenaline floods him, further clearing his mind. He begins to struggle against his bonds, surprised that they don’t give way immediately. 

Two things happen at once that send the thought of kidnapping far from his mind. First, he becomes aware of the quiet beeping of a heart monitor in the background, and of the cloying sterile smell of disinfectant. And then, as he struggles to move his hands and maybe sit up, a calloused hand smooths back his hair and soothes him.

“Don’t try and sit up yet kiddo, you hurt yourself pretty badly and the doc doesn’t want you making the damage any worse. Just lay still, we”ll get you settled soon,” a familiar voice whispered.

Were it anyone else, Peter would not let himself be soothed as easily, but Mr. Stark has a way of calming the boy that no one else does. The hand continues running through his hair, and the boy marvels at the fact that his mentor seems to know exactly how gentle he should be in order to not aggravate the headache further. In fact, the soothing strokes are making the pain better, not worse.

With that, Peter turns his thoughts to a more important question. 

What the heck happened?

Slowly, the memories return and a scene begins to play out in his mind.

* * *

On a sunny Friday afternoon, Peter had arrived at the Tower, overnight bag in tow. As he entered the atrium, which was spacious, full of trees and light, he had immediately realised that something was wrong. There was an odd tension permeating the space, and suddenly he felt cold, despite the warm sun. His eyes were drawn towards the entrance, which resembled a security checkpoint - metal detectors, cameras, and even x-ray scanners which were used by guests. Usually this area was unstaffed, as it was part of Friday’s jurisdiction to control entrances and exits. That day, though, several armed guards were standing around, so tense that Peter felt dread, a tight ache in his stomach, even though he was doing nothing wrong. 

There was no way he was leaving though. Mr. Stark could be in danger, and that meant that Peter wasn’t going to leave his side until things were cleared up. He was much more qualified than any of the man’s bodyguards. 

Thankfully, none of the guards spared him a second glance, not too curious about a gangly teen, and further discouraged from asking questions by his full security clearance, which basically meant that not even they had the clearance to question him about anything. They just directed him to the express lane, and less than 5 minutes later, Peter was in the private elevator to the penthouse floor. 

Friday kindly informed him that Mr. Stark was in the living area, talking with Ms. Potts and Happy. Peter hurried in, stopping to hover in the doorway, suddenly worried he was intruding. Pepper noticed him first, and immediately beckoned him over.

“Finally, someone who can talk some sense into you, Tony.” she said, sounding more worried than frustrated. 

“What’s going on?” Peter asked quickly. Pepper worried was not a good sign. She had incredibly poise and was always cool under pressure. Things must be bad if she was letting her worry show. 

It was Tony who answered. “You know the Stark Annual Charity Gala?” Peter nodded. “Well, it’s tomorrow, and we’ve received several threats of varying kinds from some little group of angry ex-employees. I truly don’t think it’s anything to worry about, but Pepper has decided that for some reason this time the threats are serious.” The man scoffed, clearly unconvinced. 

Privately, Peter agreed with Pepper. The thought of holding a massive gala, incredibly hard to secure, after serious death threats had come in, seemed ridiculous. 

“...looked into the origin of the threats?” Pepper was asking Happy. 

“I did. The leaders of the group seem to be a former chem lab manager and a smart but sadly rather unstable engineer,” the head of security responded.

This did absolutely nothing to assuage Peter’s fears. The leaders seemed like smart and angry people, and that was a bad combination. Angry people were desperate, and their intelligence made them incredibly dangerous. His solution would be to simply cancel the whole gala, but he doubted Tony would let that happen.

So he came to what seemed like the best solution for the situation at hand.

“Mr. Stark? How about I be your personal bodyguard for the night? With my spider anxiety, I may be able to stop anything before it happens,” he offered, interrupting the growing argument.

“Are you sure kid?” Tony asked. “I know you hate big events like these.”

“I do, but I’m not letting you go and get hurt without me,” was Peter’s calm response.

To his surprise, he found that both Happy and Pepper seemed pleased by his solution. 

The four of them began discussing security measures, trying to figure out how to vet and control several hundred people. Peter was actually able to add several more of his own ideas, easily finding places in the blueprints where most people would have to pass through in order to get in - places best suited for checkpoints. Between all of them, they created a security plan that was as close to bulletproof as possible, although Peter still disliked the holes that seemed glaring to him. 

The plan eased some of his nerves however, and the three hours he spent in the lab with Mr. Stark pushed the rest of his worries from his mind. 

It wasn't until late that evening, when he rolled over in bed and caught sight of the suit hung up on the closet door, that it all came rushing back and for several minutes he struggled to fill his lungs with air, feeling like he was choking under some massive weight. The pressure eventually released, but left him lightheaded and exhausted. He fell asleep quickly, but his night was restless, plagued with shadowy visions of blood and smoke. 

The next morning was slow. Peter was tired, and his ever growing anxiety left him mostly non-verbal, the words choking in his throat.

He wandered around like a ghost until it was time to get ready. He dressed with shaky hands, and when Mr. Stark ruffled his hair after helping him with his tie, Peter could barely muster up a weak smile. 

Happy drove them to the venue and they spent a whirlwind few hours overseeing catering, security, seating, and everything else. 

People started streaming in around 5, and Peter stood just behind Mr. Stark, watching everyone as the billionaire greeted them all, public persona securely in place. His wide smile may have seemed genuine to everyone else, but Peter could see right through it. 

The greetings went without a hitch, and the two of them retreated into a back room. Happy informed that the security checkpoints had worked well. No one should be inside without having had a background check and gone through the scanners. Tony seemed to relax, but Peter wasn't so sure. Something still felt off. It wasn't quite a warning of danger, just a deep sense of wrongness.

They returned to the stage for Mr. Stark's keynote address, but Peter's spider-anxiety suddenly became so intense that he couldn't hear a word of the speech. His heart was pounding in his ears and his breath was caught in his chest, leaving him fighting to breathe. 

Wrong. Something was wrong.  _ Something was wrong.  _

The tension broke as a security guard runs on stage. Peter caught sight of the wild, insane rage on his face, and his protective instincts took over. The man had hardly pulled the strange-looking gun from behind his belt, when Peter was already springing towards Mr. Stark, shielding the man with his body. The momentum of his jump carried them over the edge of the stage, down into the pit. Peter managed to turn them around in the air, but nothing more. He hit the ground and, through the pain, was aware that Mr. Stark fell on him with a thump. The the pain raced through his body and the world went dark. 

* * *

Peter comes back to his senses with impossible speed, panic racing through his body.

_ Mr. Stark could be hurt. You threw him off a stage and then passed out. Stupid, stupid, STUPID. _

He's vaguely aware of beeping alarms and worried voices, and he realizes he's probably not breathing. That would explain the vice squeezing his chest and the feeling of his heart pounding out of his chest. 

The restraints around his wrists and ankles make everything worse, so Peter fights them, tearing at them until his wrists ache. 

Suddenly, someone is by his side, and the restraints melt away like magic. He's being pulled up into someone's arms, and a hand buries itself in his hair.

"Breathe kiddo. Just breathe. Everythings okay."

Slowly, the world comes back to normal, but Peter keeps his face buried in Mr. Starks shoulder. He's scared to look at the man, scared to see how badly he's messed up. The man seems content to let him, merely humming soothingly. 

After a few minutes, Peter plucks up his courage and looks up. Mr. Stark is watching him, concern and affection in his gaze. But the boy catches sight of the scratches and bruises marring his mentor's face and his eyes fill with tears.

"I'm sorry," he chokes out, "I'm so sorry!" 

"What are you sorry for Bambi? You didn't do anything wrong...you saved my life." 

"You're really okay? Promise?" Peter hates the desperation in his tone, but he needs to assuage the raw terror he's feeling. 

"Yeah kiddo. I am. Thanks to you. You did good. You did so good." Mr. Stark's voice cracks at the end, and he buries his face in Peter's hair. 

The room lapses into a peaceful quiet and after a little while, Peter starts to fall asleep. Tony helps tuck him in.

"Be here when I wake up?" Peter whispers.

"Always kiddo."


End file.
